Paducah's Artist Relocation Program - Saturday

We met artist Nancy Calcutt in her gallery in Paducah's Lower Town Arts District. It was open studio day, which comes around every second Saturday of the month.

This town of some 26,000 people created an amazing program in 2000 in which they help artists relocate from other parts of the country to the historic neighborhood. Nancy told us that the artists meet once a month to discuss the business end of being an artist in a community like this, since many of them had had showings, etc., but hadn't owned their own space before.

Know an established artist who could use a break? Send them to the Artist Relocation Program, and they might just end up with their own home/gallery/studio. There's info and an application on the site. I just looked at the available properties and they are really amazing.



Her portraits are my favorite. Love the colors in this one.




I recognized the subject of the painting to the bottom right as someone we'd just seen hanging out at Etcetera. He's a local.



Nancy's home on the left and gallery/studio on the right.

Wow, do you think they could use some writers down there to round out the culture? I'd be willing to put my words on a wall!


Observe the dreamy expression on KFlight's face when talking about practicing her own art form, pottery. I hope she does get into a class before too long. It's so good for the soul to get caught up in your art, whatever it is.

Downtown Paducah - Saturday 6/13/2009

Masses of cone flowers planted in the downtown parking lot. Nice touch!



Lunch at Kirchoff's bakery and sandwich shop was terrific. We bought three sandwiches (portobello mushroom, chicken salad and grilled brie) and an gyros salad and split them. Not a bad bite in the bunch, but the chicken salad is probably the most addictive. Mmm.

B-Light eyes the grilled brie.



Just nice to see that people are enjoying their outdoor space, even in an alley.



The shorter building is a former slave market. It currently houses a museum, but we were on CBT (Central Baby time) so we didn't go inside. :)



KFlight demonstrates the proper way to interact with the murals on the flood wall that defends downtown Paducah from the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers.


I make the common mistake of posing with the flood markers. The two at the bottom are from 1887 (54.2 feet) and 1913 (54.3 feet). Waaay up at the top is the 1937 marker (60.8 feet) which denotes the flood that prompted the flood wall to be built.

Mom and I talked to an old-timer sitting at a picnic table nearby, who told us that they had German prisonsers of war building the wall during World War II. He was pretty interesting until he got bitter about the changes in the world and started advocating prayer and a hickory stick in every classroom.

I excused us saying, "We have to catch up with that baby down there."

"That baby doesn't have a chance of--" he started, but then I tuned him out. Sigh.



Hey, this chair in the window at Etcetera Coffeehouse is very similar to mine at home...same fabric! Yummy beverages here!


A couple of enterprising young girls came by and posted this sign in the window while we were there. A guy sitting at an outside table said, as I was taking this photo, "It makes me want to get a dog just so I can hire them!"


B-light got a little tired riding around in the car.


And he's out!



No, I mean, really out!

Street Art - Monday 6/8/2009

Very cool street art at the corner where Highland dumps into La Brea.

You Can Forget All Your Cares and Go Downtown - Monday 5/11/2009

Antipasta, Braveheart and I ventured into downtown Los Angeles for the day to visit some museums and soak in the atmosphere. Central Los Angeles doesn't have the kind of street culture that other major cities do, but it's still pretty wonderful.

I'd driven by the new(ish) Walt Disney Concert Hall but I hadn't been up close or inside. It seemed rather sharp to me, but it's quite sensuous when you see it up close. As Braveheart said, the building itself evokes the movement of music. I really wanted to put my hands on those walls. And maybe even try sliding down them!

We went inside and there were tours offered, but they didn't offer a viewing of the auditorium. Antipasta and Braveheart were mildly shocked that I haven't been there yet. There they go, setting the cultural bar a little higher again.


Above the entrance to Our Lady of Los Angeles Cathedral. I love that her toes stick over the edge of the platform.

Oddly, I didn't take a photograph of the outside of the cathedral. You can get an idea of it from the church's architecture page. It felt very uninviting to me. Layers of shingled concrete give the impression that it's like an armadillo ready to roll up at the slightest provocation.

Maybe this armored effect is a symptom of the struggles the Catholic Church faced during the time when this structure was designed and built, as it was under siege of so many accusations of sexual abuse by its priests.


A noon mass began as we stepped inside the gigantic sanctuary. See the three-dimensional cross in the window?

The windows were probably my favorite part of the cathedral. The thinly cut natural alabaster lets in a most benign light.

I happened to take a shot almost identical to the cathedral's own representation.


One of the small chapels that line the corridor outside the sanctuary. The Cathedral commissioned some truly lovely artwork.

All in all, though, the cathedral feels like a mausoleum. Cold and impersonal. I wonder if it will resonate for people in a hundred years when it has had time to absorb the hopes and fears of those who worship here.


It was just a little misty up at elevation. This building is on 4th Street near Olive.


Our next stop was MOCA [Museum of Contemporary Art], where it's okay to photograph exhibits from the permanent collection.

I like the sculpture on the left. It's called "Soft Scissors."

See it now?

I like art that doesn't take itself too darned seriously.



Number 1, 1949 by Jackson Pollack surprised me. When you are in the room with this piece, you can follow all the different colors and layers in succession and see so much.

It struck me that it's like looking out at the whole amazing universe and simultaneously inward into the heart of the atom.


We explored the performance room part of the Dan Graham exhibit.

Braveheart's response to most creative challenges is to remove her shirt.

Me?

I take pictures or notes. Or both.


Well-walked and hungry, we arrive at Grand Central Market to seek out lunch. It was after 2 p.m. by then and some of the stuff on the steamer tables honestly looked a little crusty. But we scoped it all out and came up with a shared lunch of teriyaki chicken, ceviche tostada, scallop burrito, and tilapia.




The tilapia plate, served with rice, beans, shredded lettuce and corn tortillas. Mmm.



And we're off to Los Angeles Public Library's Central Library. This building and the services it provides along with all it's branch libraries are one of the truly great things about this city. I use it all the time.
Along with books, interesting architecture and literary events, it houses a gallery on the 2nd floor and an exhibition space on the 1st floor.

This is a self-portrait of Richard Neutra, a California architect whose designs had a great impact on California. I have to say that I am not a huge fan of the sharpness of his building designs, but I was very impressed with his artwork.

Antipasta pointed out that there were early 1930s style cars parked in front of his futuristic looking buildings in many of his renderings. Interesting!



Stairs up from 5th Street to 4th, across from the library. There's usually water running through the rocks on top of the bannister.



These kids aren't fooling around. They know how to get around downtown.


We search in vain for a Pinkberry...


Yes, my toes are a little tired. After yesterday's calf-stretching climb up and around Vasquez Rocks, they've had a bit of a workout.

Ancient Party Rat!

Later that day, we visited Petroglyph National Monument. That's a pack of Cub Scouts going up the hill ahead of us.


Lots of people have been interpreting these petroglyphs for a lot of years. But you tell me... does this look like a rat with a maraca or what?


An excited cat.


An excited pregnant woman.


Not everyone was excited. This bird, for instance, seems calm. They call it a Macaw, but the interpretive sign was pretty faded so I'm not sure why.


Sundry makes a glyph with her hand.

Ha, ha.

Funny Sundry.

Taos Plaza and Forbidden Art!

Diver called her husband from Taos Plaza while I ducked into Hotel La Fonda to see the forbidden D.H. Lawrence paintings. Who knew D.H. painted? And that they caused such a stir that they were banned in London and confiscated!?

They only show them at certain hours of the day, and even though I was 15 minutes late, the guy at the desk happily took my $3 and ushered me into the room for the viewing.

All very impressive: they're kept behind a curtain which he pulled open for me. The paintings are, of course, nothing to blink at today.


On the recommendation of some people we chatted with in a shop, we went to Doc Martin's restaurant, which is located inside the Taos Inn. Apparently, the good doctor was instrumental in welcoming artists and artisans to the Taos area. He was really a doctor, but he saw a need for a hotel, and turned his old offices into what became the Taos Inn.



View from the dining room.


A pretty door with a ristra--the hanging collection of dried chilies that you see around this part of New Mexico.



I really liked this guy!


Stopped by a nature center on the Rio Grande and enjoyed the view. This is what the ranger looks at out his window every day. And to think I settle for a leafy tree with red berries and birds. (Hmm, mine's not bad for Burbank!)

Santa Fe - Canyon Road Arts

We got up bright and early on Friday morning and, after breakfasting on muffins and fresh fruit in our casita, walked down to the Canyon Road arts district which started just a few blocks away.

The B&B is off of Acequia Madre, which means Mother Ditch. This is the mother ditch, an irrigation channel that was built 400 years ago, around the time of the founding of Santa Fe.



I liked this stuff. Giant seed pods, and roaming moose.


I felt a great affinity for this guy, clutching his creation to him. Artist's dilemma: the best work is closest to the bone. Now you're supposed to share it with the world.


Nice, colorful sign.


Lovely and simple.


Diver and I both found this one a little disturbing.



Even more disturbing: the submerged woman.


One of the many fabulous doors of Santa Fe. I love how the colors of the houses and businesses are all very similar, but the buildings vary marvelously in the details. Doors, windows, hinges, all provide opportunities to make the place one's own.


Great spot for this statue!

A little wild art, Banksy-style!


My foot in Santa Fe.

We walked back part of the way on another street, with a sidewalk that wound along next to a creek. If you're not into buying really high end art--like I'm not--this is an excellent way to visit Canyon Road. We did the whole walk before 9 a.m., and had the sidewalk and road to ourselves...well, plus a few friendly joggers and dog-walkers.